Description

REDDITCH B EVESHAM ROAD (east side)
SP 0366 SE Headless Cross

17/76 Church of St Luke

- II

Parish church. 1867-8 by F Preedy. Sandstone ashlar and machine-tiled
roof with gable-end parapets. Three-bay nave with lean-to aisle, south
porch, west entrance and bell turret; three-bay apsidal chancel with north
vestry. Romanesque style. Nave: chamfered plinth; sill string stepped at
sides; pilaster buttresses at bay divisions (clasped at ends); west front
has gabled buttresses with Saltire crosses carved beneath gables and corner
rebates with slender colonnettes; west entrance set in shallow gabled pro-
jection and has a round archway of two orders on columns with foliated capitals;
captials are continued as foliated band to columns in outer corner rebates;
entrance is flanked by single-light windows with hood moulds returning as
strings to buttresses; above the entrance is a chevron moulding which con-
tinues around the buttresses and is situated beneath a large wheel window
with a hood mould; 2-light opening in gable apex with pointed head and sill
string on corbels carved with Saltire crosses; 2-light windows at west end
of aisles with hood moulds returning as strings and enclosing a rosette
relief above the centre of each window; 2-light window at east end of south
aisle. All windows in west elevation have their round-arches supported on
columns with foliated or trumpet-scalloped capitals (as does south-east aisle
window); north and south elevations have single-light round-headed windows
with hood moulds, one to each bay, except for the first and third bays from
the east end in the north elevation and the second bay from the east end in
the south elevation which have a pair of windows. South porch is gabled
and has a cross finial; round archway has chevron moulding and columns with
trumpet-scalloped capitals and a hood mould returning to corners; narrow
light in each side elevation. Bell turret is gabled with chevron-moulded
archway on columns and with responds all with cushion capitals; there is a
single bell. Chancel: pilaster buttresses at bay-divisions with colonnettes
in corner rebates; also large gabled buttresses at centre of side elevations
with similar detail; corbel table at eaves level carved with animal heads
and musical instruments; windows all have round arches on columns with
variously carved capitals. Vestry: gabled; three bays; three pairs of
rectangular lights in east elevation; door and rectangular light in west
elevation with steps to basement. Interior: four-bay pointed nave arcades
of two chamfered orders on alternating octagonal and circular columns with
foliated capitals. Round-headed chancel arch is ornately moulded and has
responds with foliated capitals and jambs have colonnettes with trumpet-
scalloped capitals. Nave has a king-post roof. Chancel has a tunnel vault
with vaulting shafts all elaborately and richly painted. The brightly
coloured paintwork continues throughout the chancel, around the windows,
on the mouldings, sill string etc. There is also a painted reredos with a
painted arcade and figures of the apostles. The piscina and aumbry are
similarly treated and ornately moulded but the two-bay sedilia has received
simpler treatment. The stone altar table has marble columns in the corner
rebates and is enriched with mosaic panels. The square font and three-sided
stone pulpit have similar marble columns attached to their bases and much
carved decoration above. The building is one of Preedy's more unusual and
elaborately detailed designs; the plan and decoration of the chancel are
particularly noteworthy (BoE, p 194).

Listing NGR: SP0380466227

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26392147

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings